Citizens For Excellence In Education Claims Financial Woes.

Citizens for Excellence in Education, a once formidable Religious Right group that vowed to take control of America's public schools, is having serious financial difficulties, according to its president.

Dr. Robert Simonds, who founded CEE in 1983, wrote in an April fundraising letter that donations to the group have dropped off sharply since he endorsed "Rescue 2010," a drive to encourage all fundamentalist Christians to remove their children from public schools by the year 2010.

"CEE is almost totally shackled because of the 50% drop in giving since we added rescuing our children from public schools to our agenda," wrote Simonds. "If you think, beloved, we can do this alone -- it is over! We are dropping thousands of names monthly from our mailings because of no support. It costs us $.50 per letter that goes out. Please help our helpless 20,000,000 church children and their beautiful Christian church parents. How can we abandon them to the Phillistines [sic]? God help us, if we do."

Continued Simonds, "CEE is hanging on financially. Our task is huge. We cannot print our materials or mail them because of our six-month funding slump. Our Education Newsline, which should have been mailed with this letter, is being delayed for lack of printing funds. We must get help fast.... We are not crying wolf, beloved. We must have help -- and soon. Please PRAY for these children depending upon us at CEE. We are your arm of ministry -- but we are partners and cannot succeed alone."

Simonds' group, based in Costa Mesa, Calif., sends out monthly letters viciously attacking public schools and accusing them of promoting various lurid schemes. In the April letter, he asserts that children are being drugged in school and that they are frequently preyed upon by pedophiles. "As homosexual/lesbianism spreads among teachers, so does pedophilia," he writes.

CEE started with ambitious goals. In 1984 the group mailed a fund-raising letter outlining "our Lord's plans to bring public education back under the control of the Christian community."

Continued the letter, "There are 15,700 school districts in America. When we get an active Christian parents' committee in operation in all districts, we can take complete control of all local school boards. This would allow us to determine all local policy; select good textbooks; good curriculum programs; superintendents and principals. Our time has come!"